Wednesday, March 28, 2012

This year was the third year for Rock & Roll in Dallas and my second year running. Rock & Roll really puts on a good race, I have been impressed with the organization both times.

We left the house about 7:00 in order to make it to the runner drop-off area downtown by 7:30 for the 8:00 race start. The race started downtown near City Hall and finished at Fair Park. Runners could park at Fair Park and take a (free) shuttle to the start line but we decided to have friends drop us off. We used our extra time to wait in line for the Porta-Potties and then made our way to Corral 7. I was assigned to Corral 6 but we had decided to start together, so I went back one corral. Our wave started about 10 minutes after 8:00 and we were off!

The course was exactly the same as last year, which I loved. The beginning was crowded, as to be expected. I dodged and wove through the pack and lost Michael pretty quickly. Whoops! (He was fine with it, he told me later he decided to start out slower and save his energy. A good tactic!) The entire first half of the race was a gradual incline with a couple of pretty steep hills in Uptown. Dallas is not known for its hills, but we found them!

I really had trouble with my energy this race. My legs felt strong but the rest of me felt "off." I had a hard time keeping my breathing regular, probably because of allergy congestion. I usually breathe through my nose but I kept ending up mouth-breathing even though I knew I wasn't pushing that hard. I also kept feeling like I had side stitches, but on both sides of my waist. This was probably also due to breathing issues.

Finally around the 3.5-4 mile mark I settled into a pace that felt okay. By then, it was really warming up! The temperature had been pretty mild the last few days but Sunday it spiked up over 80 degrees. I took water or Gatorade at every station and by the last stations I was taking 2 cups. I knew I was getting overheated and was even getting chill bumps. I took a couple of walk breaks in shady areas and it seemed to help.

The support along the course was great! There were so many great volunteers and so many people came out to cheer. There were some really funny signs, my favorite was "Worst Parade Ever!" Runners Drink Beer was handing out little cups of beer on Swiss Avenue, I grabbed one and while I wish it had been colder, it really hit the spot! There was also someone with a sprinkler hose standing on a roof as we ran through Deep Ellum (near the finish line)-- needless to say, he was everybody's best friend!

When we entered Fair Park, there were lots more people there to cheer us into the finish. I tried to push myself, but I was spent! I finished in 2:10:30. Not my best time, but not my worst. Considering the heat, I'm happy with it! I am also happy when I compare it to the exact same course last year. The weather was perfect and I finished in 2:12 and some change, which was a PR at the time. So clearly I am getting faster!

I grabbed a bag of pretzels, a Gatorade and a bottle of water as soon as I got through the finish chute. I wanted an ice towel, but it was too crowded for me to get over to them, so I just skipped it. The finish chute was super crowded and the family reunion area was even worse! Instead of waiting by the correct letter, everyone just crowded around the finish chute exit. One of the volunteers was on a bullhorn and was trying to get people through. He finally said, "These runners are thirsty and need beer! You are keeping them from beer!" HA!

Michael did great for his first half with a finish of 2:28! Awesome job!

I hope to be able to update with some pictures soon! I think this will be my last "long" race until the weather starts cooling off. It's going to be a hot summer!

Not bad, considering that work has been crazy. My boss asked us to all come in early and stay late, so I've been doing 11 hour days and it's going to be the same way this week, too! Add in the time change and it was a challenging week.

Tuesday I got up extra early to do my run and came across a fox in the neighborhood! So strange, I have never seen one in person before. It looked like a cat at first-- it was running several yards in front of me and keep in mind it was still dark out. It wasn't until I saw its head that I realized it was no cat! It was so odd to see a fox in our neighborhood which is so urban. He must have been looking for bunnies!

I did manage to make it to the social run on Wednesday night, it was great to run in the evening while it was still light out! We tried out a new route and then Michael, our friend Brandon and I decided to go a little further. We thought we would end up at 5 miles but not quite.

Saturday's yoga class was different than usual. I am used to a fast flow style of class. Our substitute instructor had us use straps to get really deep into our poses. It didn't feel difficult at the time, but I was super sore Sunday morning. Our run was really difficult, I was sore all over (my back especially) and it was very humid out. It was not a pretty run, but we did 7 miles as our last long-ish run before the race.

The weather has been beautiful this week! And it has started to stay light for longer, so getting my evening run in on Friday was no problem.

Our friend Brandon joined us for the Run On! social run on Wednesday night, it was nice to have some more company so we did a 5 mile route. We couldn't quite keep up with the faster pace group, but we let them know before we left that we were following them (the store didn't have any maps for us) so they knew to make sure they were in our sight.

Sunday's long run was tough, my legs were sore from yoga class and just did not want to go very fast. We also started out later than I like (after 9:00am) so it warmed up quickly. But we finished!

This is the first time in half marathon training that I have gone over 10 miles for a training run. I have never thought it was necessary, but we'll see if this helps me finish a little stronger this time! I can't remember if I have already shared this or not, but Michael decided to run Rock & Roll with me, his first half marathon! It has been great to have a training and racing buddy. I'm glad this is something we can do together!